Varsity Gray: A Times investigation into what really happens in college admissions scandals

When the Varsity Blues scandal hit in 2019, it rocked American academia in unprecedented ways.

The case alleges that wealthy parents cheated to get their children into top universities. The prosecution has pulled in business leaders and celebrities such as Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

No university has attracted more defendants than USC.

Five years later, a Times investigation re-examined the scandal with a trove of new documents that offer a more complex view of the Varsity Blues and deeper questions about universities like USC that it claimed were victims of fraud.